What is the best content for social media?

As a business we all want the most visibility for the posts we create whether it’s on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter etc, so what is the best content for social media?

Believe it or not, the answer is not the same for everyone.

It is true to say that social media is the place to be seen – for the right reasons! You can stop thumbs from scrolling by and get on the radar of your target audience when you post engaging content that truly resonates.

If only it was that simple. Here are some questions that you may be asking yourself.

What do I say? When do I have the time? Is there anyone I can share my social media content ideas with? How do I know what’s working well and what isn’t? What is the best content for social media? Is it true, I need to plan in advance?

What you need to aim for is consistent social media content that attracts engagement, gets seen by your customers and potential customers, shares new and interesting snippets of information, informs, entertains, and more.

You have to tell your audience what THEY want to see and hear, not what YOU want them to see and hear. In the world of social media talking directly to the reader is key!

To help you, let’s look at some social media post ideas that really work! To do this I’m going to show you some great examples and tell you why they had an impact.

An example of a good social media post

Here’s a Facebook post from The Last Post, a public house in Ripponden, West Yorkshire. Now when you first look at this post from a business prospective you may think it looks unprofessional as the photos cut off the persons head.

But you just have to look at the data, social media is about results not perfectly curated images.

The results:

This post did really well. It reached 8990 people, had 59 comments, 37 shares and achieved 2964 engagements. And here’s why it was so successful:

It is written in plain language. If your industry has a lot of jargon, social media isn’t the place to use it.
It provides information that is new and interesting.
It talks directly to The Last Post’s audience.
The messages within it are simple.
It contains photos that are personal and information. They resonate with the target audience.
The photos don’t show a complete picture – ‘who is standing on the table outside?’ Encouraging the reader to click to enlarge a picture is engagement too!
It asks a question straight away to grab attention.
It injects curiosity when talking about the secret function bar
It addresses the discomfort that hot weather brings by telling customers about their air conditioning.
It’s friendly.

With so much engagement, the algorithm “bots” were clearly delighted and rewarded the post with lots of well-deserved visibility.

You can read here about how The Last post transformed their Facebook page, without any paid ads!

The most liked Instagram post ever

What is the most liked Instagram posts ever? Surely this sort of knowledge will help inform what the best content for social media is?

Wrong!

This is the most liked Instagram post ever.

Yes, it’s an egg.

This image of an egg achieved 56.1 million likes. This was the account’s one and only post, which stated “Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram” World_Record_Egg

The reason why this worked was because it invited the reader to be a part of something, to be a record breaker. The aim was to set a world record to get the most Instagram likes, it encouraged engagement on the post. It may have achieved its aim but did the ‘liker’ get anything out of it? No.

Clearly, this was just for fun. It’s not a strategy for a business that wants to make money! I suggest you stay clear of posts like this one, as it’s attracting attention from the masses and not targeted at your ideal customers.

The most liked Facebook post ever

This is the most liked Facebook post ever, which WILL help you to find the best content for social media.

This post from Nick Vujicic, a world renowned speaker coach and entrepreneur, attracted a huge 15.7 million likes. Nick does have a large following and uses social media to showcase his more professional side.

But this picture stood out from his usual posts, it was deeply personal and gave an inspiring look inside his family life.

In just this one picture he completely humanized his brand and told a story. It also embeds trust between him and his followers.

Informal, behind-the-scenes images of the people behind your brand is great content for social media, it’s interesting and builds trust with your audience.

Would you like to create social media posts like these? **(OK, maybe not the egg one though!).**

I realize it’s not as easy as it looks, and posts like the ones mentioned above can be few and far between.

Do you ever feel a bit unsure about what to post on your social media for your business?

Believe me, you are not alone.

I’m Becs Bate and I’ve worked with many companies in your shoes – and yes I’ve been there too!

That’s why I’ve created The Social Flock, a group of like-minded business professionals, to help kick down that brick wall you face when thinking of content ideas.

The group provides:

Weekly inspiration, so you’re never short on ideas what to post
Support and feedback on your content from members in the group to give it a fresh pair of eyes
Tips and advice on how to find and create compelling content that will attract the attention of your target market

If you’d like to kick start your social media content with a renewed passion then come and #JoinTheFlock.